The IUCr Newsletter is distributed to 587 libraries and 15,000 crystallographers and other interested individuals in 39 countries. Feature articles, meeting announcements and reports, information on research or other items of potential interest to crystallographers should be submitted to the editor at any time. Submission of text by electronic mail and graphics, slides or photographs by express mail is requested. Items will be selected for publication on the basis of suitability, content, style, timeliness and appeal. The editor reserves the right to edit. Cost of distribution in Australia, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, and The Netherlands is borne by crystallographic associations or institutions or by individual crystallographers in these countries. Address changes or corrections and requests to be added to the mailing list should be addressed to the editorial office.

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The IUCr Newsletter (ISSN 1067-0696; coden IUC-NEB) Volume 6, Number 2. Published quarterly (4x) by the International Union of Crystallography. Members receive the IUCr Newsletter by virtue of their membership in the IUCr. Second Class postage rates paid at Buffalo, NY and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send changes of address to IUCr Editorial Office, c/o Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, 73 High St., Buffalo, NY 14203 USA.

IUCr Executive Secretary: Michael Dacombe (execsec@iucr.org)

William L. Duax
Editor

Patricia Coley
Newsletter Design & Production

Jane Griffin
Assistant Editor

Sally Lunge
Copy Production

Send Contributions to: W.L. Duax
Hauptman-Woodward Med. Research Inst.
73 High St., Buffalo, NY 14203, USA
Tel.: 716-856-9600 FAX: 716 852-4846
e-mail: patti@hwi.buffalo.edu

Matters pertaining to Advertisements should be addressed to W.L. Duax or P. Coley at the above address. In Japan, contact Prof. Yukio Mitsui, Dept. of BioEngineering, Nagaoka U. of Technology, Nogaoka, Niigata 940-21, Japan, FAX: 81-258-47-9400

On the Cover: The X-ray fiber diffraction pattern from L and R-type flagellar filaments and the refined electron density map of the R-type filament (an end on view of a 50 Å thick cross section) are esthetically peasing and information rich.
Bacteria swim by rotating flagellar filaments. During the straight swimming phase, the flagellar filaments form a bundle behind the cell body, where the filaments are all in a left-handed supercoiled form, each acting as a propellar driven by a rotary motor at the base of the filament. The flagellar filament is a tubular structure composed of 11 protofilament strands, which are axially alighned arrays of subunits. Bacterial motility involves switching between the left and right supercoiled states of the flagellar filament. The 9 Å resolution electron density map of the R-type filament, refined from the X-ray data, reveals details of the supercoil important to bacterial mobility.

Ref: I. Yamashita, K. Hasegawa, H. Suzuki, F. Vonderviszt, Y. Mimori-Kiyosue and K. Namba, Nature Structural Biology, Vol. 5, No. 2,1998, pp. 125-129. (Figures curtesy of Keiichi Namba.)

Contributors: X. Bu, J.C. Cassatt, M. Cassman, B. Cernik, A.E. Cordero Borboa, E. Crawford, J.D. Dunitz, C. Ferrero, C. Gilmore, M. Guss, J. Hasek, F.H. Herbstein, R. Hoffmann, W.M. Itano, W. Kamitakahara, R. Lewin Sime, I. Madsen, L. Makowski, R.E. Marsh, M. Martinez-Ripoll, R. Millane, K. Namba, S. Norval, J.C. Norvell, I. Olovsson, P.C. Preusch, C. Rischel, L. Strouts, I. Swainson, M. Walker

Table of Contents

Letter From the President

Crystallography and Its Support

Having spent much of the past few weeks writing a grant application, the question of funding for science has been very much on my mind. Most of us depend to some degree on being able to convince funding agencies that what we do is worthwhile, but we are still subject to the vagaries of political change. In many countries, support for science, especially at the more fundamental end of the spectrum, is under severe threat. For this reason we celebrate enlightenment when we see it. The proposed major boost for basic science in the United States seems, at least to this observer, to be a very welcome sign. Let us hope it spreads! Of course, crystallography has much to offer. It is equally at the centre of the current biological revolution and of developments in new materials. Over the coming months, the meetings of the regional associates of the IUCr will give a chance to celebrate these successes; the American Crystallographic Association in Washington, the European Crystallographic Association in Prague, and the Asian Crystallographic Association in Kuala Lumpur. These are occasions to meet together face-to-face (instead of over the internet!), to free the mind, to enjoy the science and to return home stimulated. But we should also remember to tell other people what we do. Both the IUCr, and meeting organisers, should strive to find new ways of involving the public and their representatives (politicians) in our programs, so that they can share in some of the excitement we feel. The meetings of the Regional Associates of the IUCr are a very important part of the crystallographic calendar. For reasons of geography, not everyone can easily participate, however, and I would like to increase the help we give to regions such as Africa and Latin America. The greatest challenge, perhaps, is in Asia, where the Asian Crystallographic Association has its third meeting in October. The countries of AsCA cover a huge geographical range, including many countries where crystallography is still in its infancy. Nevertheless, there is great cause for optimism here, too. Despite the current economic downturn, macromolecular crystallography is developing rapidly in Korea, and is beginning in Singapore, and new synchrotron sources are reportedly coming in several countries. When added to the traditional strength of Japan, India, China and Australia, these developments promise a vibrant future in the region. I hope that this meeting, in particular, will bring record numbers of participants.

Edward N. Baker
Ted.Baker@auckland.ac.nz

Errate: Page 6, Vol. 6, No. 1

Yelderun, Phys Rev Letters 78, 9438 (1997) should be Yildirim, Phys Rev Letters, 78, 4938 (1997)

Letters to the Editor

Dear Dr. Duax,
In Newsletter No. 2 of 1997 Peter Strickland and Brian McMahon report on the 50th Anniversary Opening for the New IUCr Editorial Offices in Chester. They remember the need in 1947 of the new Union of Crystallography to find its voice in a scientific journal edited and produced by its members and for its members, and they continue that the demise of Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, a victim of the war years, had left a gap in the literature...
It is true that in Feb. 1945 Zeitschrift für Kristallographie ceased publication and a few months later the editor, Max von Laue was deported to Great Britain. At the same time, the allied authorities denied the publishers both the paper rations and a license to publish. However, after a period of nearly ten years in which the situation in the occupied and divided Germany continued to prevent Zeitschrift für Kristallographie from being published, the second issue of the 106th volume was published in October 1954. From 1955 onwards, Zeitschrift für Kristallographie appeared regularly. From 1963 the Sheffield physicist G.E. Bacon belonged to the board of editors. Today, Zeitschrift für Kristallographie is very much alive and kicking, and looking back on a long tradition of 120 years. A period in relation to which the ten years of its disappearance during and after the Second World War seem to be negligible - sad but not a demise. Although due to historic events it is not the house journal of the crystallographic community, it forms a very important part of its history and continues to be a highly respected forum and means of communication for crystallographers all over the world.
Matthias Guettinger, R. Oldenbourg Publishers, Munich

Dear Dr. Guettinger,
Thank you for setting the record straight. I was saddened, but not surprised to learn that the allied authorities denied publishers of a scientific journal paper and rights to publish.
WLD

Dear Bill,
I think the gremlins got into your typing on page 16 of Vol. 6, No. 1. The X-ray-Tracing Utility is just a Ray-Tracing utility and the pdf should be pdb. The address has now changed to: http://cherubino.med.jhmi.edu/~paul//. I think it is a great package myself, and am working on making it available for users of Acorn computers.
The neutron scattering lengths can also be accessed via the neutron scattering www pages at: http://www.neutron.anl.gov, which has many other links for Neutron scatterers.
Kate Crennell, Editor, Crystallography News

Dear Bill
Two good reasons to take another look at Crystallographica:
1) Version 1.5, just realeased, includes a complete overhaul of the user interface so that much more may be accomplished with a simple point-and-click approach.
2) For those who like the flexibility and power of Crystallographica but don't need scripting language Crystallographica Lite is now available. For half the price this includes all of the full version's graphical tools and may be upgraded to include the scripting language at any time.
More information and a demonstration version may be found at our new Web site: www.crystallographica.co.uk or contact us at info@OxfordCryosystems.co.uk
Richard L Glazer, Oxford Cryosystems

Dear Bill,
Enclosed (above) is a photo taken in Winnipeg indicating perhaps new career paths for budding crystallographers disenchanted with academia or big business. No doubt you can find a use for this in your editorial capacity.
Frank Hawthorne

Dear Bill,
In Vol. 6, No. 1, while a Peace Corp. (i.e. corporation) is an excellent idea, I think that you really meant Peace Corps (a body of persons engaged in the same activity).
George Jeffrey

Editorial

Some of the most important materials in the world, ranging from silk to DNA, are fibers and our best insight into the molecular level structure of these materials comes from fiber analysis. At first glance it seems to the casual viewer that the sparse nature of a fiber diffraction pattern could hardly provide much information on the complex polymers that make up a fiber. But, ingenious techniques developed over the past 50 years and the constant improvements in data collection, processing and analysis have allowed the field to flourish. The cover pictures and the following report on the Third Fiber Diffraction Workshop from Rick Millane reflect the power and diversity of the techniques.

Third Fiber Diffraction Workshop

A group of fiber diffractionists gathered at Jenny Wiley State Park, Kentucky, USA, Oct. 5-8, 1997, for the "Third Fiber Diffraction Workshop," part of a series of highly successful workshops sponsored by the du Pont Company.

Highlights of the workshop were descriptions of the uses of neutrons to study water structure around DNA (T. Forsyth) and bacteriophage structure (M. Ivanova), X-ray synchrotron radiation for microfocus and time-resolved studies (W. Fuller and A. Mahendrasingam), and a description of the instrumentation and facilities for fiber diffraction at the SRS (E. Townes-Andrews). G. Stubbs used examples from virus structures determined by fiber diffraction to address the question: What are the limits of fiber diffraction analysis? He concluded that recent successes have not yet defined the limits of molecular replacement approaches.
H. Wang and R. Denny presented an update on software systems for data processing. The various kinds and degrees of disorder present in fiber specimens, ways of modeling them, and their effects on diffraction data and structure determination were discussed by R. Millane and J. Eads.
The structures of a variety of synthetic polymers were described, including fluoropolymers (S.-Y. Park), polyamides (K. Gardner), and copolyester-amides (J.D. Cho), as well as studies of variations in orientation and crystallinity of PET and LDPE both across container walls and during drawing.
The wide applicability of fiber diffraction techniques was illustrated by descriptions of various aspects of applications to viruses, bacteriophages, nucleic acids (A. Radha), actin (R. Page), amyloid (M. Bartlam), polysaccharides (V. Finkenstadt), deoxy-hemoglobin (X.-Q. Mu), liquid crystals (G. Mehl), and various synthetic polymer structures.
The meeting concluded with unanimous agreement to hold a fourth workshop in the year 2000.

Rick Millane, Chairman

IUCr Activities

A Proposal for the Storage and Dissemination of F (or F**2) Tables

The International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), through its Executive Committee, should take the initiative to organize the storage and availability of tables of Bragg intensities (F**2) or structure factors (F) from published and possibly also unpublished crystal structure analyses. Such tables constitute the primary experimental information on which these analyses are based and hence provide the only means of checking and extending their results. The earlier practice of printing F tables as integral parts of published papers has been abandoned for understandable reasons. A cursory check of major journals shows that only IUCr journals, the Chemical Society of Japan and the National Research Council of Canada still require deposition of F tables, and make them available on request. Such tables can now be stored as electronic files which can be made conveniently accessible to the crystallographic community and other scientists. The IUCr has the authority, experience and technical resources needed to mount such an initiative in cooperation with other publishers of papers containing crystallographic structural information.

J. D. Dunitz , F. H. Herbstein, R. E. Marsh

18th IUCr Congress Glasgow 1999

How time passes - the IUCr meeting in Glasgow is now not much more than a year away, and the organization is really moving into gear. I thought it might be useful for everyone to know the timetable leading up to the meeting:

The Scientific Programme Committee, chaired by J. Howard, meets just before the ACA meeting in the aptly named Crystal City outside Washington. The programme is the key to any successful meeting, so please pass on suggestions for topics, speakers, plenary lecturers etc. to Judith (j.a.k.howard@durham.ac.uk).

The second announcement will appear in Oct. It will be mailed out via the IUCr Newsletter, as well as to everyone who filled in the 1st announcement. If you are not on any of these mailing lists or you have moved recently e-mail iucr99@chem.gla.ac.uk with your name, address and e-mail address and you will go on to the database. The second announcement will contain the programme, registration information, hotel booking forms, details of all the social and accompanying members programmes, and the pre/post-congress tours: it is the definitive document for '99.

Abstracts will be due in Feb. 1999. In general, only electronic submission will be possible. K. Shankland and C. Wilson at the Rutherford Lab. are taking care of this. They did a splendid job for the BCA meeting in St Andrews as a dry run.

Reduced rate registrations will be due by June 1st, and the same deadline applies to hotel and student dormitory accommodation.

On the opening day of the congress there will be a series of workshops. We already have the Cambridge Database, and a powder diffraction workshop arranged. Do you want to organise one? In many ways it is quite simple, most of the administrative work is taken care of by Northern Networking, our professional organisers. E-mail iucr99@chem.gla.ac.uk if you are interested.

Satellites are now arranged as follows:

_Synchrotron Radiation: B. Cernick is organising this at Daresbury.

_Neutron Scattering: C. Carlile at Oxford

_Cambridge Structural Database: F. Allen at Cambridge

_Computing School: G. Bricogne (and others at the MRC) near Cambridge.

Finally, visit our web page: it is updated regularly and has the URL: http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/iucr99/. A. Lapthorn at Glasgow U. Chemistry Dept is the web master. And don't forget, if none of this persuades you to attend, we have arranged an 80% eclipse of the sun on Aug. 11!

Chris Gilmore

Commission on Powder Diffraction

The IUCr Commission on Powder Diffraction (CPD) was formed in 1987 and it is one of the major purposes of the commission to provide an information link between the very large industrial community and the more academic, less applied aspects of the subject. The commission will continue to do this through the IUCr by endorsing large and small meetings, by encouraging collaboration between groups working in similar fields, by enhancing mobility of students to attend CPD events, and by undertaking specific projects designed to improve standards and research practices in powder diffraction. A particular aim of the CPD that I am very keen to continue is to encourage the teaching of powder diffraction in developing countries. We are keen to open up links of interest to powder diffractionists in the areas of electron, neutron and synchrotron diffraction, XAFS, small angle scattering and high pressure research.
The CPD has a very close relationship with the International Centre for Diffraction Data. The ICDD have over 15,000 people on their circulation list which illustrates the huge number of scientists engaged in powder diffraction. These people would not normally describe themselves as crystallographers but as materials scientists or chemists. It is the job of the CPD to draw together these groups, to encourage co-operation and collaboration, to accelerate the already phenomenal growth of the subject and to make new information available to everyone.

Bob Cernik, IUCr CPD Chairman

Web Sites of General Interest to Powder Diffractionists

CPD: http://www.iucr.ac.uk/iucr-top/comm/cpd/index.html
ICDD: http://www..icdd.com
IUCr: http://www.iucr.ac.uk/welcome.html
General Crystallography:
http://www.unige.ch/crystal/w3vlc/crystal.index.htmlCPD Round Robin
The status of the Commission on Powder Diffraction's Round Robin on quantitative Phase Analysis reports that 90 people have returned questionnaires volunteering to participate. The participants are predominantly X-ray diffraction users, 10 of which have access to neutron diffraction facilities.
Samples were sent out during the last quarter of 1997. Allowing some six months for the return of participant data, the preliminary results should be presented at either the EPDIC-6 or ECM-18 meetings in Aug. 1998. Final results will then be presented at the 18th Congress of the IUCr in Glasgow, Aug. 1999.
The samples supplied to participants will now consist of: Simple - Corundum (Al203) + Zincite (ZnO) + Fluorite (CaF2), Preferred Orientation -Corundum + Zincite + Fluorite + Brucite Mg(OH)2, Amorphous - Corundum + Zincite + Fluorite + Glass (SiO2), Microabsorption - Corundum + Magnetite (Fe3O4) + Zircon (ZrSiO4), Granodiorite, Synthetic Bauxite, A mixture of Mannitol, Sucrose, Starch, Valine and Nizatidine, which should prove to be of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
Individuals involved in the project include: L. Cranswick, E. Groleau, M. Aylmore, N. Agron-Olshina, R. Hill, D. Smith and J. Fiala.

For more information, contact: I. Madsen, CSIRO Minerals, Box 312, Clayton South 3169, Victoria, Australia, E-mail: ian.madsen@minerals.csiro.au

Ian Madsen, CPD Newsletter, No. 19, 1997

Meeting Reports

Mexican Crystallography

The First Mexican Crystallographic Congress (MexCC) in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in Nov. 1997 was attended by two hundred and fifty people and included ten plenary lectures, one hundred twenty-five oral and poster presentations. The congress also featured four courses, a workshop, an exhibit of natural and artificial crystals, and an industrial exhibition.

Plenary lecturers included "Solution crystal growth under reduced gravity" (F. Rosenberger, U. of Alabama), "Structure of the topoisomerases" (A. Mondragon, N.W.U., Illinois), "Accuracy and precision in high temperature Rietveld refinement" (A. Kern, Karlsruhe), "A Roentgen generator in San Luis Potosi in 1896" (M. Stoopen-Rometti, Mexican Fed. of Radiology and Image), "Low angle X-ray scattering" (P. Bosch-Giral, Metropolitan U. of Mexico) and "Properties of Sol-Gel catalysts" (T. Lopez-Goerne, Metropolitan U. of Mexico), "Protein crystallography in Mexico" (M. Soriano-Garcia, Nat'l U. of Mexico (UNAM), "Electronic and nuclear structure factors" (E. Ley-Koo, UNAM) and "Phase transitions through molecular dynamics" (H. Riveros-Rotge, UNAM). Courses on "Single Crystal Crystallography", "Powder Crystallography", "Electron Crystallography" and "Protein Crystallization" and workshops on "High Resolution X-ray Diffractometry" (T. Ryan, Philips Analytical and M.A. Vidal-Borbolla, U. of San Luis Potosi) and "Rietveld Quantitative Analysis" (A. Kern, Karlsruhe, and G. Picco, Spectramex, Mexico) were offered. Students received course books. The exhibition featured new equipment and services from Bruker, Philips, Bede, Pona, Rigaku, Spectramex and IACSA. The abstracts and workshop textbooks were contributed to the libraries of main Mexican and Latinoamerican Universities. The abstracts and additional information are available at http://www.unam.mx/smcr. The congress was sponsored by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT), the Latinoamerican Centre of Physics (CLAF-Mexico), the National U. of Mexico (UNAM) and the SMCr. Pleased with the success of MexCC I. Crystallographers in Ensenada, Baja California, and Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, are bidding to host the second Congress in 1999.

Adolfo E. Cordero Borboa

Neutron Powder Diffraction

A Workshop on Advanced Neutron Powder Diffraction Instrumentation and Data Analysis Techniques was held Aug. 22, 1997 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The workshop was organized by J. Jorgensen (USA) and had two components:

The morning sessions concerned instrumentation, and focused on resolution, large multidetectors and design of new focusing monochromators. It was shown that, while powder diffractometers are getting more expensive, they are capable of impressive improvements in resolution and intensity that will allow applications of neutron powder diffraction to new areas of science and technology. Topics covered included: an overview of the D2B multi-Soller powder diffractometer at the ILL (P. Radaelli); differing approaches to focusing monochromator design (T. Vogt and M. Popovici); the use of focusing monochromators to push the limits of sample size (I. Goncharenko), developments at the new Swiss national source (L. Keller); overview of the C2 DUALSPEC diffractometer and program at Chalk River, Canada (I. Swainson); and time-of-flight instrumentation (T. Kamiyama and R. Ibberson).

Data refinement and handling formed the second component of the workshop. Topics included: development of RIETAN-96T (F. Izumi); the merits of maximum entropy methods (S. Kumazawa); analysis of time-of-flight data using the Cambridge Crystallographic Subroutine Library (W. David); recent additions to the powder analysis components of GSAS, and the virtual reality modelling output now available from the PC version (R. Von Dreele).

At the end of the day, the floor was opened to discussion on future directions. The liveliest discussions concerned the smallest samples that people had successfully used and the features available in various refinement packages. The workshop proved to be a highly successful forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion of the latest developments.

Ian Swainson, CPD Newsletter No. 19, 1997

Down Under

The most notable event of the Meeting of the Society of Crystallographers in Australia in Queenstown, New Zealand, April 1997 was the session devoted to the memory of the late Ted Maslen.

M. Spackman, gave an outstanding summary of Ted's scientific work. The membership of the SCA unanimously accepted a recommendation from the Council that the student awards to attend crystallographic meetings will henceforth be known as "E.N. (Ted) Maslen 1987 Studentships and Scholarships" to honor Ted's commitment to teaching and students and his role in chairing the organizing committee of the very successful 1987 IUCr congress held in Perth.

The relentless growth of protein crystallography in the region was heralded by the opening talk from G. Kleywegt who together with his Swedish colleague A. Jones has set out to inflict some of the accepted standards of small molecule crystallography onto the world of protein structure.

Mitch Guss

Parma Powder Power

The 5th European Powder Diffraction Conf. (EPDIC) in Parma, Italy, May 1997 was attended by over 350 scientists who use powder diffraction chemistry, physics, mineralogy, and biology to characterize materials ranging from pharmaceuticals to art objects. The rapidly developing areas of structure solution from powder diffraction data and in situ studies of phase transformations and chemical reactions proved to be of great interest.

The EPDIC Award lecture was delivered by M. McMahon on powder diffraction studies of highly-condensed matter and the use of in situ powder diffraction in the study of reaction kinetics by D. O'Hare (Oxford). In plenary lectures, L. McCusker (Zurich), reviewed the tools that the smart powder crystallographer ought to carry in his structure solution toolbox and Y. Andreev (St. Andrews) and R. Dinnebier (Bayreuth), showed specific applications of novel techniques involving simulated annealing and grid search techniques with molecular fragments, respectively.

The present and future role of synchrotron radiation and neutron sources in powder diffraction were described by A. Fitch (ESRF, Grenoble) and by S. Hull (RAL, Didcot), while R. Wagner (Geesthacht) presented some interesting insights on the contribution of neutron scattering in materials science and engineering. M. Marezio (Parma) and B. Snyder (Columbus) brilliantly elucidated the important role of powder diffraction in the characterization of high Tc superconducting materials. The models used in texture analysis of polycrystalline materials were critically reviewed by M. Jarvinen (Lappeenranta). Additional details concerning application were discussed in the parallel sessions on chemistry, physics, biology and material science.

Appeared in the CPD Newsletter and website

The canSAS Workshop

(or how one user's careless remarks can cause a lot of work)

Representatives from major Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) or Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) facilities in the US, Europe and Japan met at Grenoble, Feb. 4-6, for the jointly organized (ILL/ESRF/DUBBLE) workshop on Collective Aid for Nomadic Small Angle Scatterers. The meeting addressed problems that users experience due to differences in the data formats and data analysis software at different facilities. At present each site has its own format and analysis programs.

Software developers (O. Glatter, Graz; D. Svergun and N. Stribeck, Hamburg and the CCP13 consortium), representatives from the NeXus and CIF data-format projects and a representative of the IUCr-SAS committee also attended.

Talks and demonstrations were combined with hands-on sessions to demonstrate programs and assess the principal problem areas. Aspects of SAXS and SANS research discussed included: data production, reduction, software requirements, format, scientific analysis and comparison with models.

P. Klosowski (NIST) described advantages of the NeXus file format. A. Hammersley (ESRF) highlighted a format (imageCIF) under development suited to large 2D image-plate datasets. R. Ghosh (ILL) and R. Hjelm (Los Alamos) stressed the importance of systematic storing of experimental parameters. The number of parameters that should be stored in Neutron Time-of-Flight data sets was shown to be considerably greater than with more conventional SANS or SAXS instruments. M. Capel (BNL) showed an impressive software suite for data analysis and primary data reduction.

Alternative proposals for data formats were discussed for time-resolved and large multi-dimensional datasets. NeXus was seen to provide a comprehensive description of raw data and its layout, and experimental configurations. ImageCIF has particular merits for archiving data related to crystallographic structures.

The working party identified the following priorities:

1. A web repository should be established containing an inventory of existing data formats.
2. Translation tools should be developed to which scientists can adapt their own routines.
3. A dictionary of terms to describe parameters and data in files should be created.
4. A standard ASCII data format for 1-D reduced data should be defined. Compatibility with spreadsheet analysis is considered important, as is the need to include parameter names and units.
5. A compilation of available data analysis software and program manuals is desirable and should be prepared.

A volunteer was identified to coordinate each of these activities. Therefore this will be organized as a workshop associated with the XI SAS conference in Brookhaven, May 1999.

Claudio Ferrero

Notices, Awards, Elections

1998 Aminoff Prize to Janner, Janssen and de Wolff

The Aminoff prize is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to pioneering work in crystallography. Gregory Aminoff was the first in Sweden to apply X-ray crystallographic methods to determine the structure of some minerals in 1918.

The Aminoff prize for 1998 has been awarded to Aloysio Janner, Ted Janssen and Pieter Marten de Wolff "for their contributions to the theory and practice of modulated structure analysis".

A symposium on "Aperiodic crystals - periodic in higher-dimensional space" Mar. 27-28 at the Academy in Stockholm began with an introductory lecture "Twenty-five years of aperiodic crystals", in which Janssen noted that de Wolff and Janner happened to give their now historic lectures at the same session during the IUCr Congress in Kyoto 1973.

It was long considered that a real crystal is of necessity perfectly periodic in three dimensions. Early in the twentieth century there was evidence of crystals without lattice periodicity. However, these data were not taken seriously until the beginning of the seventies. Early examples were magnetic structures with a helicoidal spin arrangement and a period that is incommensurate with the periods of the underlying lattice. Soon many examples were found, including g-Na2CO3, NaNO2 and thiourea, where the aperiodicity was caused by an incommensurate modulation. Hundreds of materials have now been found which are as well ordered as conventional crystals but without lattice periodicity. An important part of the earth crust consists of aperiodic modulated minerals.

The real breakthrough to determine details of modulated structures came with the works by de Wolff, Janner and Janssen in the early seventies. They introduced analysis which has since become standard for modulated phases. By considering the diffraction pattern as n-dimensional, periodicity was reestablished. The achievements of the three prizewinners has had an enormous importance in practically all studies of modulated structures.

Janner gave a fascinating lecture on "The incommensurate way to the crystallography of snow" in which he analyzed the scaling properties of snow flakes(Acta Cryst. A53 (1997) 615-631).

Other lectures included "The art of coping with stress (G. Chapuis, Luasanne), "Incommensurate diffraction as an end member of disorder" (M. Glazer, Oxford), "Complex magnetic structures in simple crystal structures" (B. Johansson, Uppsala), "Combining electron and X-ray diffraction methods" (S. Lidin, Stockholm), "Incommensurate aspects of atoms, bonds and electrons in conducting crystals" (S. van Smaalen, Bayreuth), "The practical application of the superspace approach in crystal structure analysis" (V. Petricek, Prague) and "How to modulate structures - and why" (R. Wallenberg, Lund).

Unfortunately, Prof. de Wolff could not attend the award ceremony on Mar. 26 for health reasons. Later, when Janner and Janssen brought de Wolff his Aminoff medal, they talked about the beginning of the story of aperiodic crystals. Two weeks later de Wolff died. It is truly fortunate that his great achievements were honored before his death.

Ivar Olovsson, Chairman, National Committee of Crystallography

Crystallography Scholarship Awards

To encourage promising graduate students to pursue crystallographically-oriented research, the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) has established a Crystallography Scholarship Fund. Convinced of the beneficial impact of the scholarships, the ICDD has solicited funds from private and industrial sectors to support this program. The ICDD has awarded twenty-four scholarships since 1992, five in 1998.

Applicants should be a graduate students seeking a degree with major interest in crystallography. There are no restrictions on country, race, age or sex. Applicants should submit Curriculum Vitae, listing degree(s) held and degree(s) sought, a one-page proposal describing the type of research to be supported, and a supportive letter from the sponsoring professor of an accredited university on institution letterhead. The scholarship stipend of $2,000 is to be used to help defray tuition and laboratory fees.

Applications must be received by Oct. 31 1998. Please mail to: Secretary, International Centre for Diffraction Data 12 Campus Boulevard Newtown Square, PA 19073-3273 USA.

AsCA'98 Elections

The Asian Crystallographic Association executive elected at the Council meeting in Seattle is:
President: Ze Zhang (China)
Vice President: Christopher Howard (Australia)
Secretary/Treasurer: Krishan Lal (India).

Society of Crystallographers in Australia

President: J. M. Guss (Univ of Syd, NSW) m.guss@biochem.usyd.edu.au. Tel.: 02 9351-4302 FAX: 02 9351-4726

Vice-President: M. R. Taylor (Flinders U., SA)

Secretary: T. W. Hambley (U. of Sydney, NSW)

Treasurer: B. W. Skelton (UWA, WA)

Council: J. Martin (U. of Queensland, Qld), A. Pring (South Australian Museum, SA), T. R. Welbury (Australian National U., ACT)

Past President: C. J. Howard (ANSTO, NSW)

ANNCCr Representative: ex officio, J.W. White (Australian National U., ACT)

Honors

John W. Cahn, Senior fellow at the National Inst. of Standards & Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, has been elected to membership in the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.

Carl Pabo, Howard Hughes Medical Inst. and MIT, was elected to membership in the US National Academy of Sciences.

Communications to Italy

When calling or faxing to Italy (from abroad) after June 19, telephone and fax numbers MUST add a zero in front of the city code. Example: now dialled as +3949 8275 239 should be dialled +39 049 8275 239.

Seeman Discovered

Ned Seeman of New York U. received one of Discover Magazines 1997 awards for Technological Innovation. Ned was honored for his innovative manipulation of nucleic acids to build molecular frameworks and micromachines, which Discover Magazine characterizes as precursors to miniature robots that will roam our bloodstream, healing injuries and fighting disease. Ned (characteristically conservative) said "I regard most of what we're doing here as engineering but every now and then something doesn't work as expected and we have to do some science".

Notes

Watch What You Call Me

Linus Pauling in a letter to Edward Grubert, Biology Dept., Temple U., "you refer to me as a biochemist, which is hardly correct. I can properly be called a chemist, or a physical chemist, or a physicist, or an X-ray crystallographer, or a mineralogist, or a molecular biologist, but not, I think, a biochemist.

A Womans Work

"In Manne Siegbahn's institute, she (Lise Meitner) was given a room but no students, no assistants, no equipment, not even the keys to the building; she was neither invited to join Siegbahn's group nor given the resources to form her own."

from a letter in Physics Today by Elizabeth Crawford, Ruth Lewin Sime, Mark Walker

The Shape of Things

The vast majority of what we know about shapes and metric detail of molecules and extended materials derives from the studies of the diffraction of X-rays by single crystals of molecules, a technique popularly called "X-ray crystallography".

Roald Hoffmann, American Scientist, Jan-Feb. 1998

Life and Art

An exhibition called "Molecules are Life and Art", developed by Cristina De Matteis, lecturer in pharmaceutical chemistry at the U. of Nottingham, England, links the beauty of molecules with their importance in everyday life. The collection of pictures designed by De Matteis merges photographs of commonplace materials with computer graphics images of the molecules that give the materials characteristic properties such as taste, smell, color or texture.

Donald Caspar, TMV, and Protein-Protein Interactions

The Inst. of Molecular Biophysics at Florida State U. sponsored a two-day symposium entitled "Quasi-equivalence: Motion and Adaptability in Living Molecules" in celebration of Donald Caspar's 70th birthday. Don was first intrigued by X-ray diffraction studies of Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) in 1938. That summer Isadore Frankuchen visited the Caspars bringing with him the first ever X-ray diffraction photograph of a virus that he had taken earlier that year at Birkbeck. Namba and Stubbs published the 3.6Å resolution structure of TMV in 1986 and the refined structure at 2.9Å resolution in 1989.

Lee Makowski (Florida State U.), Guest Editor, Protein Structure Function and Genetics

Releasing Coordinates

The journals Nature and Science announced in Feb. 1998 that they are collaborating to investigate whether the practice of deferred release of crystallographic coordinates should be stopped.

Web Wise

More than half of the entries that appear in the Web Wise column of this newsletter are drawn from "bioweb news" the superb monthly column by Kevin Ahern in Genetic Engineering News. Ahern is also editor of Biotechnology Software and Internet Journal, published by Mary Ann Liebert Inc. The introduction Aherns uses for his column is reproduced here:

All of the links to URLs described here are posted on my web page at http://www.orst.edul~ahernk/bsj.html. The categories of general services provided at a web site considered here are as follows: Tools (T) - Analytical computing tools, such as BLAST searches. Data (D) - Searchable or downloadable database information. Goods (G) - FTP delivery of useful items such as full package software, bug fix software, version update software, or demo/beta test software. Links (L) - Useful links to other sites. News (N) - News of interest. Support (S) - Feedback or tips in response to user's inquiries. Other (O) - Anything from innovative use of web tools to appearance to editorial point of view. Ratings: Excellent, very good, good. Nothing below good will be reported here.

Ahern's list of the top 25 websites of 1997 include:

BiochemNet - (http://schmidel.com/teaching.htm)
Welcome to BioSpace - The Hub Site for Biotechnology - (http://www.biospace.com/)
The Biotechnology Information Center - (http://www.nal.usda.gov/bic/)
ProtGMain FrameSet -(http://info.bio.cmu.edu/Courses/BiochemMols/ProtG/ProtGMain.htm) A site that might better be named Proteins Come Alive!, Dr. William McClure's pages provide a clear (and artistic) demonstration of the power of Chime the 3D spacefilling structure of Protein G from Streptococcus.

Three-dimensional Drug Structure Databank (cmm.info.nih.gov/modeling/drugbank.html) - "The Three-dimensional Drug Structure Databank consists of a collection of investigational and approved therapeutic agents whose structures have been experimentally determined or built using molecular modeling methods." Drug structure viewing requires MDL's CHIME browser plug in. An excellent collection of links. Services: L,D; Strong Points: Images, links; Weak Points: None; Rating Excellent

The Internet Consumer Recycling Guide (www.best.com/~recycle/) The Internet Consumer Recycling Guide is dedicated to reducing waste. Information is organized simply into eight categories, each of which is a short document with detailed information about recycling, reducing garbage, stopping unwanted mail and so on. A wealth of information that makes the site almost worthy of its title. Services: L,O. (much general information); Strong Points: Very good summary of recycling options; Weak Points: Could be bigger; Rating: Very Good

The World of Richard Dawkins (www.spacelab.net/~catalj/) - This very interesting site, which states in its first heading that it is an "unofficial" site of Richard Dawkins and is not associated with him in any way, nevertheless provides an excellent layout of information about life, genes, genetics and evolution. A news section entitled Top Evolution and Sci News provides links to interesting articles of the last month. Services: L,N.O. (newsletter); Strong Points: Overall quality; Weak Points: A bit scattered; Rating: Very Good

Other Websites of Interest

IMB JENA Biocomputing Group: Image Library of Biological Macromolecules (www.imb-jena.de/IMAGE.html) - An image-rich site that does it right. The aim of the site is to provide downloadable images of biological macromolecules using X-ray diffraction information. Better yet, the images are available as PDB files, which allow them to retain a high quality when printed. Images of DNA, RNA, proteins, and combinations of these are all available. A great idea Services: L, O (downloadable images); Strong Points: Image quality, number of images available; Weak Points: None, Rating: Excellent

Biophysical Soc. Homepage (www.faseb. org/biophys/society/biohome.htm) - A nice site of service to biophysicists, the Biophysical Soc. Homepage has several useful functions. First, it has an online search engine to find members of the Biophysical Society, Second, it lists contacts for important subgroups within the organization . Meeting information is presented, as are a useful set of links to publications and academic institutions. Services: L,D; Strong Points: Information useful to biophysicists; Weak Points: A bit brief; Rating: Good

Cn3D Home Page (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Structure/cn3d.html) - Cn3D is a cute shortcut for "See in 3-D," and this site is dedicated to the topic. It provides numerous links to 3-D molecular information at NCBI's site. A new section of Entrez is dedicated to 3-D, and users can access it with a nice search engine. Users can also download the Cn3D application to do 3-D visualizations on their desktop. Though the mechanism of linking Cn3D with actual 3-D images is a bit cloudy, the images of the site make it worth the effort. Services: L,O (3-D images); Strong Points: Images; Weak Points: Unclear organization, Rating: Very Good

Human Genome Project Information (http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human-Genome/)

Sheffield ChemDex (www.shef.ac.uk/~chem/chemdex/) - Broad spectrum of areas of interest to chemists. A valuable site for chemists.

Oxford Cryosystems New Web and E-mail addresses:
URL: www.OxfordCryosystems.co.uk, Email: info@OxfordCryosystems.co.uk

Creating Crystals with Plasmas

Plasmas, the ionized states of matter, are usually hot and gaseous. However, a sufficiently cold or dense plasma can be liquid or solid. Itano et al., (National Inst. of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado) report the characterization of observing one-component plasma crystals by optical Bragg diffraction. They confine from 105 to 106 beryllium-9 cations at a density of 108 to 109 atoms per cubic centimeter, which is much less dense than normal crystals because there are no anions to screen the Coulomb repulsion. Under appropriate conditions, single crystals with a body-centered cubic (bcc) structure are formed and observed by resonant light scattering, confirming theoretical predictions. In other cases, two bcc crystals form, or a mixture of bcc and face-centered cubic ordering is observed.

W.M. Itano, et al., Science, Vol. 279

Femtosecond Time-Resolved X-ray Diffraction from Laser-Heated Organic Films

The extension of time-resolved X-ray diffraction to the subpicosecond domain is an important challenge, as the nature of chemical reactions and phase transitions is determined by atomic motions on these timescales. Physicists in France are carrying out X-ray diffraction studies on the millionth of a billionth of a second-femtosecond-timescale [Nature, 390, 490 (1997)], following angstrom-level atomic disordering in an organometallic film. They follow the response of a Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers film of cadminum arachidate to laser heating by observing changes in the intensity of one Bragg peak for different delays between the perturbing optical pulse and the X-ray probe pulse. C. Rischel and A. Rousse are viewing fast atomic motion - which ultimately drives processes like chemical reactions and phase transformations - on the timescale at which it occurs.

One day it may be possible to watch movies of evolving molecular structures one frame at a time.

Christian Rischel, Nature, Vol. 390/4, Dec. 1997

Large-Cage Zeolite Structures

Zeolite type structures with large cages interconnected by multidimensional 12-ring channels have been synthesized. More than a dozen large-pore materials were created in three different topologies with aluminum (or gallium), cobalt (or manganese, magnesium, or zinc), and phosphorus at the 64 tetrahedral coordination sites. Crystallographic data have been gathered for 20 selected zeolite analogs and structures synthesized in five space groups.

Xianhui Bu, Science, Vol. 278, Dec. 1997

Crystallographic Resources

For Want of a Crystal, a Grant was Lost

For more than a decade study groups of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) routinely have denied funding for applications dealing with crystallization of membrane proteins, claiming that the outcome of such projects is too unpredictable to justify support. The practice is widely known as the no crystals, no grant rule, applied by the U.S. crystallographic community despite the fact that the NIH does not accept it as an official review criterion. Anthony N. Martonosi

Since 1993, a series of spectacular accomplishments - notably in Europe and Japan, but also including NIH-funded investigators in the U.S. - have convincingly demonstrated that X-ray crystallographic studies of membrane proteins are feasible (Table 1).

The structure of many extremely important and medically relevant membrane proteins remain to be determined. To encourage changes in study section philosophy, the U.S. NIGMS drafted a set of recommended "Criteria for the Evaluation of Structure Determination Proposals". These non-binding suggestions were distributed by the Div. of Research to relevant NIH study sections, some of which are now using these criteria. It appears that progress is being made in considering the importance of the crystallization of membrane proteins in its own right.

Peter C. Preusch, John C. Norvell, James C. Cassatt and

Marvin Cassman

Table 1.

High-resolution structures that include a membrane embedded domain1

 

Protein Year of publication

Bacteriorhodopsin1-4 1990, 1996, 1997

Bacterial photoreaction centers5-13 1984, 1986, 1993, 1994, 1996

Light harvesting complexes14-16 1984, 1995, 1996

Photosystem I17 1996

Porins18-27 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998

Alpha-hemolysin28 1996

Prostaglandin synthase-I29 1993

Prostaglandin synthase-II30 1996

Cytochrome oxidase31-33 1995

Cytochrome bc1 complex 34-36 1996, 1997

1Structures solved for substantially intact proteins which included a membrane-embedded domain. The list does not include structure solved for extramembrane domains of membrane proteins, membrane-embedded fragments, small peptides, nor peripheral membrane proteins not tightly associated with the lipid core. NIGMS is interested in tracking progress in this area. If you note omissions to this list, please contact preuschp@nigms.nih.gov

Elevated Temperature XRD Instrument Suppliers

Anton Paar KG, Kärntner Strabe 322, A-8054 Graz, Austria, Tel.: 43 316 28 26 12 0 (Resistance heat-band and non-contact furnaces)

Huber Diffraktionstechnik GmbH, D-8219 Rimsting, Germany, Tel.: 49 8051 4472 [UK contact: Huber U.K. Ltd, P.O. Box 36 Henley-On-Thames, Oxon, RG9 4TB, Tel.: 01734 403657] (capillary furnaces)

Johanna Otto GmbH (formerly Edmund Bühler), Rottenburger Strabe 3, D72411 Bodelshaussen, Germany, Tel.: 49 7471 7398 0 (Resistance heat-band based furnaces)

Nonius BV Delft, PO Box 811, 2600 AV Delft, The Netherlands Tel.: 31 15 269 8300 [UK contact: Nonius Ltd., Porters Wood St. Albans, Herts AL3 6PH, Tel.: 01727 843939 (furnaces for use with Inel CPS 120 detector)

Philips Analytical X-ray B.V., Lelyweg 1, 7602 EA Almelo, The Netherlands Tel.: 31 546 83 99 11 [UK contact: Philips Analytical X-ray, York St., Cambridge CB1 2QU, Tel.: 01223 374411] (systems incorporating other manufacturers furnaces)

Bruker AXS, AUT 37, D76181 Karlsruhe, Germany, Tel.: 49 721 595 2888 [UK contact: Bruker Analytical X-ray Systems, Sir William Siemens House, Princess Road, Manchester M20 2UR, Tel.: 0161 446 5267/9] (capillary furnaces and systems incorporating other manufacturers furnaces)

Stoe & CIE GmbH, Hilpertstrabe 10, D64295 Darmstadt, Germany, Tel.: 49 6151 9887 0 (furnaces for capillaries, fibres and foils)

X-Ray Associates, PO Box 25, Newbury, Berkshire RG20 8BQ, Tel.: 01635 248080 (mainly small cryostats with higher temperature capability)

This list, published in the BCA Newsletter and web page, was compiled by Steve Norval, ICI Technology, E-mail steve-norval@ici.com

CSD in Spanish

The Spanish Research Council (CSIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas) supports the Cambridge Crystallographic Database for all Spanish Academic Institutions. Since Jan. 1988, it has supported the database free of charge, with up to 30 licenses for Academic Institutions in Latinamerican countries. We gratefully acknowledge both the CSIC and the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre for making this possible. Latinamerican Academic Institutions interested in joining this program are kindly requested to contact me as soon as possible at: M. Martinez-Ripoll, Inst. Rocasolano-CSIC, Serrano 119, E-28006 Madrid, Spain, Tel.: 34 1 5619400, FAX: 34 1 5642431, E-mail: xmartin@roca.casic.es.

Martin Martinez-Ripoll

NIST Call For Proposals

You are invited to apply for time on the neutron beam instruments at the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR). Proposals for the following instruments may be submitted at any time: High-resolution powder diffractometer, Cold-neutron depth profiling station, Prompt-gamma neutron activation analysis station. Approved proposals for the latter instruments usually receive time in the subsequent reactor cycle, i.e., in 1-3 months.

The demand for instrument time on the neutron reflectometers has been high. Applicants for these instruments should describe their proposed experiments as completely as possible. For the first time, we are asking applicants to list publications resulting from use of previously allocated instrument time. The backscattering spectrometer and the spin-echo spectrometer are nearing completion, and should be ready for preliminary measurements in a few months time. However, they will not be available for user experiments until the next call for proposals.

A Summer School on Neutron Small Angle Scattering and Reflectometry from Submicron Structures, sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation, was held at the NCNR on June 1-5, 1998. Contact NCNR about future Schools. The call will be sent by regular mail by request only. Contact: L. Clutter, NIST, FAX: 301 921-9847. Details at http://rrdjazz.nist.gov/ for details. To be placed on the NCNR electronic mail list, contact linda.clutter@nist.gov.

William Kamitakahara

Predict-A-Fold

Critical Assessment of Methods of Protein Structure Prediction (CASP): Round II

A supplement to Proteins: Structure, Function, and Genetics 1997 is devoted to papers reporting the outcome of the second community-wide experiment to assess methods of protein structure prediction. Assessors are J. Thornton for comparative modeling, M. Levitt for threading, A. Lesk for ab initio, and S. Dixon for docking. Papers in the issue by these authors provide thorough and authoritative analysis.

The assessors note progress in comparative modeling, where some groups were moderately successful in predicting the conformation of some loops, and side chain accuracy was somewhat improved. However, both of these areas, as well as general main chain accuracy still have a long way to go to rival crystallography, and serious problems of incorrect alignments and ineffective refinement methods remain. False positives and assigning a fold where the structure is novel remain a problem for most predictors.

There will be a CASP Round III, beginning from the Spring of 1998, and culminating in a meeting in Dec. Check the CASP website for further information. (from an overview by J. Moult, T. Hubbard, S.H. Bryant, K. Fidelis and J.T. Pedersen)

Proteins, Structure Function and Genetic Suppl 1:2-6 (1997)

Future Meetings

The 18th European Crystallographic Meeting, Prague, Aug. 15-20, 1998

The meeting includes six parallel conferences on physical, technological, chemical and biochemical topics: Structure in Physics and Technology, Structure of Materials, Structural Aspects in Chemistry, Structure and Function of Biological Systems and Methods for Structure Determination, Advanced Methods for Structure Investigations, and General Discussions.

There will be eight microsymposia each containing up to seven lectures, two poster sessions, fourteen plenary lectures and several workshops. Written contributions will be published in the journal "Materials Structure in Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Technology". Selected review papers will be published in the "Post-Conference Book" intended to summarize the state of art in structure analysis at the beginning of new century.

50 years of the IUCr, 50 years of the journal Acta Crystallographica, 25 years of the European meetings on Crystallography and 650 years of the Charles University willl be celebrated.

Plenary Lectures

Biological Applications (W. Hendrickson, New York, USA); Recent Development in Macromolecular Time-Resolved Crystallography (D. Bourgeois, France); Structural Aspects of Protein Synthesis (A. Liljas, Sweden); Chemistry and Evolution of the Catalytic Structures in Serine Hydrolases (G. Dodson, UK); Recognition and Repair of Mismatched Base-Pairs in DNA (L. Pearl, UK); Free-Electron Laser (G. Materlik, Germany); Inorganic Crystallography (V. Kaucic, Slovenija); The Structure and Dynamics of "Soft Matter" (J. White, Australia); Temperature, an Additional Dimension in Chemical Crystallography (H.-B. Buergi, Switzerland); Modulated and Aperiodic Structures (V. Petrícek, Czech Republic); In-situ Phase Transition Probed by Synchrotron Radiation (C. Landron, France); Real Structure of Surfaces and Interfaces (H. Fuess, Germany); Kinematical X-Ray Diffraction by Distorted Crystalline Materials, (P. Klimanek, Germany); History of the IUCr (D. Cruickshank, UK).

Microsymposia (Session Chairs in parenthesis)

Structure in Physics and Applied Crystallography

Spin, Charge & Momentum density (C. LeComte, France); Phase Transitions (L. Bohaty, Germany); Martensitic Phase Transformation (H. Morawiec, Poland); Defects and Microstructures (P. Klimanek, Germany); Texture and Stress Analysis (H.J. Bunge, Germany); Industrial Applications at Neutron and Synchrotron Sources (P. Scardi, Italy); Thin Films, Multilayers (H. Göbel, Germany); Epitaxial Thin Films, Surfaces (V. Holy, Czech Republic)

Materials Science

Structure of Minerals (S. Durovic, Slovakia); Structure Determination using Electron Diffraction (S. Hovmöller, Sweden); Nanocrystalline Materials (H.E. Schäffer, Germany); Crystallography Under Extreme Conditions (D. Häusermann, France); Optic, Electric and Magnetic Materials (J. Albertsson, Sweden); Small Angle Scattering (P. Laggner, Austria); Aperiodic Crystals and Quasicrystals (G. Chapuis, Switzerland); Low-Order and Non-cryst. Materials, Fibre Diffraction (J. Kroon, Netherlands).

Structural Aspects in Chemistry, Chemical Crystallography

Materials Chemistry - Reaction in Solids (W. Lengauer, Austria); Structure Systematics and Structure-Function Relations (U. Rychlewska, Poland); Crystal Growth in Physics, Chemistry and Technology (E. Scandale, Italy); Structure Determination by Powder Diffractometry (W.I. David, UK); Structure of Inorganic Compounds (R. Cerny, Switzerland); Molecular Modelling, Quantum Chemistry (S. Candeloro De Sanctis, Italy); Large Supramolecular Assemblies and Inclusion Compounds (G. Tsoucaris, France); Hydrogen Bonding (T. Steiner, Israel).

Structure and Function of Biological Systems

Transmission and Signalling Across Membranes (J. Drenth, Netherlands); Energetics of the Cell (N. W. Isaacs, UK); DNA/RNA - Structure, Binding Modes and Function (S. Neidle, U.K); Proteins and Drug Design (R. Pauptit, UK); Viruses, Anti-viral and Anti-retroviral treatment (L. Liljas, Sweden); Immunologically Active Molecules (G. Bentley, France); Protein biosynthesis. Transcription and Translation (A. Yonath, Israel); Metalloproteins - Structure and Function (P. Lindley, France).

Advanced Methods for Structure Determination in Biology

Synchrotron Radiation (A. Kvick, France); Neutron Scattering (C. Carlile, UK); Non-diffraction TechniquesG. Faigel, Hungary); Time Resolved Studies (M. Wulff, France); Ab Initio Methods (A. Podjarny, France); Accuracy and Validation of Macromolecular Structures (Z. Dauter, Germany); Molecular Replacement and Refinement (K. Wilson, UK); Multiple Anomalous Diffraction (G. Leonard, France).

General Crystallography and Discussion Meetings

Purification & Crystallization of Macromolecules (R. Hilgenfeld, Germany); INTERNET in Crystallography (A. Hewatt, France); Databases (F. Allen, UK); Structural Biology in Europe (A. Lewit-Bentley, France); Symmetry and Nomenclature (V. Kopsky, Czech Republic); Commercial lectures, Instruments (Z. Sourek, Czech Republic); Phase analysis (I. Madsen, Australia); Teaching Crystallography (A.Oskarsson, Sweden).

Organized by the Czech and Slovak Crystallographic Assn under the auspices of the IUCr, and European Crystallographic Assn and in cooperation with Fac. of Mathem. and Physics, Charles U., Fac. of Mech. Engineering, Czech Technical U., Inst. of Macromolecular Chemistry and Inst. of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, the Czech Engineering Academy and the National Museum.

Detailed information by WWW (http://kristal.karlov.mff.cuni.cz/ecm/ecm.htm) or Fax (004202 24911061).

Jindrich Hasek

25 years of European Conferences

Joining Scientists in the Structure Analysis in Physics, Chemistry, Technology and Molecular Biology

The idea of holding joint European meetings for all scientists interested in methods of structure analysis applied in any field, ranging from the basic science to industrial or medical applications, began in Bordeaux, France 1973. Since then, these meetings have been held any year when the World Congress of IUCr did not take place. The focus of the meetings and the numbers of contributions from physics, chemistry and molecular biology has over the years changed. At the beginning, most contributions concerned development of methods and applications in the materials sciences and chemistry. Nowadays, the interests are divided equally between materials research (40%) and molecular biology (40%). The percentage of chemical sciences and applications has decreased to about 20%. This is reflected in the scientific program of the ECM-18 that is organized this year in Prague.

Meetings Calendar

A selection of future meetings. Extensive lists appear regularly in J. Applied Crystallography, the BCA Newsletter and the ACA Newsletter. Corrections and new listings are invited by the Editor.

JULY 1998

13-17 IUPAC MACRO 98: 37th Int'l Sym. on Macromolecules. Queensland, Australia. Contact: Macro 98 Australia, Chem. Dept., U. of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld. 4072, Australia. FAX: 61 7 365 3628.

18-23 ACA '98. Washington, D.C. USA. Contact: ACA; FAX: 716 852 4846, aca@hwi.buffalo.edu; http://www.hwi. buffalo.edu/ACA/.

25-30 14th Int'l Conf. on Chemistry of the Organic Solid State (ICCOSS XIV). Cambridge, England. Contact: iccossxiv@ch.cam.ac.uk.

26-31 Twelfth Int'l Conf. on Crystal Growth (ICCG12). Jerusalem, Israel. Contact: ICCG12, c/o Int'l Travel and Congresses Ltd., PO Box 29313, Tel Aviv 61292, Israel; FAX: 972 351 60604.

AUGUST 1998

3-7 47th Annual Denver X-ray Conference. Colorado Springs, Colorado. Contact: Manager, Schools and Conferences, ICDD, 12 Campus Blvd. Newton Square, PA 19073-3273, FAX: 610 325 9823; e-mail dxc@icdd.com.

16-20 18th European Crystallographic Mtg. (ECM-18). Prague, Czech Rep. Contact: kuzel@karlov.mff.cuni.cz. (See page 22)

21-22 Leopoldina Meeting "Can Crystal Structure Be Predicted". Dresden, Germany. Contact: A. Nelles, Deutsche Akad. der Naturfors. Leopoldina, POB 11 05 43, D-06019 Halle, Germany; E-mail: nelles@leopoldina.uni-halle.de.

22-25 6th European Powder Diffraction Conf. (EPDIC-6). Budapest, Hungary. Contact: T. Ungar, Dept. Gen. Physics, Eotvos, H-1445 Budapest, POB 323, Muzeum krt 68, Hungary; E-mail: ungar@ludens.elte.hu.

SEPTEMBER 1998

2-8 Fifth BCA Summer School in Protein Crystallography. Bath, UK. Contact: G. Taylor, Dept. of Biology & Biochem., U. of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, www.bath.ac.uk/~bssglt/summer.html.

19-24 XIII Int'l Biophysics Congress. New Delhi, India XIII IUPAB Int'l Biophysics Congress, Tata Inst of Fundemental Res., Homi Bhabba Rd. Colaba, Mumbai-400 005, India; anil@tifrvax.tifr.res.in.

OCTOBER 1998

7-10 Int'l School on Powder Diffraction. Calcutta, India. Contact: ispd98@iacs.emet.in.

13-15 AsCA '98 3rd Conf. of the Asian Crystallography Assoc. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Contact: S.-L. Chang, Physics Dept. Nat'l Tsing Hua U., Hsinchu, Taiwan 300; FAX: 886 3 5723052; E-mail: sichang @alpha1.srrc.gov.tw.

NOVEMBER 1998

2-6 II Workshop on Optoelectronic Materials and Their Applications. Havana, Cuba. Contact: I. Milan Licea (Gen. Man. MERCADU-UH) or M Sanchez (Chair person, U. of Havana); FAX: 537 33-5842; E-mail evento@comuh.uh.cu.

9-13 First Iberoamerian Congress on Sensors and Biosensors. Havana, Cuba. Contact: J. A. Rodriguez; e-mail jar@cnm.es.

12-13 Small Angle Neutron Scattering Workshop. Abingdon, UK. Contact: R. Heenan, RAL, rkh@isise.rl.ac.uk

DECEMBER 1998

6-10 Molecular Graphics and Modelling Society 1998 Int'l Meeting. San Diego, CA, USA. Contact: P. Graber; The Scripps Res. Inst. MB-5, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Rd., LaJolla, CA 92037 USA; E-mail: mgms98@scripps.edu; http://www.mgmsoa.org.

9-12 Electron Crystallography of Biological Macromolecules. Lake Tahoe, CA USA. Contact: M.J. Perez, Tel.: 713 798 6625, mperez@bmc.tmc.edu, http://ncmi.bcm.tmc.edu/symposium.

APRIL 1999

7-15 BCA/CCG Seventh Intensive Course in X-Ray Structural Analysis. Durham, UK. Contact: J.A.K. Howard, BCA/CCG Intensive Course, Dept. of Chem, U. of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK, FAX 44 0 191 374 3745, j.a.k.howard@durham.ac.uk.

MAY 1999

12-23 Crystal Engineering : from Molecules and Crystals to Materials. Erice, Italy. Contact: P. Spadon, paola@pdchor.unipd.it; http://www.geomin.unibo.it/orgv/erice/crysteng.htm.

12-23 Data Mining in Crystallography. Erice, Italy. Contact: P. Spadon, http://www.geomin.unibo.it/orgv/erice/datamini.htm.

22-27 ACA '99. Buffalo, NY, USA. Contact: http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu/ACA/.

AUGUST 1999

4-13 18th IUCr Gen. Assembly and Int'l Congress of Crystallography. Glasgow, Scotland. Contact:www.chem.gla.ac.uk/iucr99/

23-26 Alfred Benzon Symposium No. 46, Molecular Mechanisms of Innate Immunity. Contact: B. Dalgaard, FAX: 45 3962 0933, E-mail: benzon@post1.tele.dk, www.benzon-symposia.dk.

SEPTEMBER 1999

19-24 XIII Int'l Biophysics Congress. New Delhi, India. Contact: anil@tifrvax. tifr.res.in.